Sunday, September 29, 2013

Tchaikovsky's 'Pathetique'

Another program note:

Pyotr
Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1841-1893)

Symphony
No.6 in B minor,Op. 74 Pathétique

Adagio
– Allegro non troppo

Allegro
con grazia

Allegro
molto vivace

Finale
(Adagio lamentoso – Andante)

In
February 1893, Tchaikovsky wrote to tell his brother, Anatoly, that a new
symphony had come to him just as he was starting out for Paris in 1892. He said
it would have a program, ‘but of the kind which remains an enigma to all’.
There would also be much that is novel in the work: ‘For instance, the Finale
will not be a great Allegro, but an Adagio of considerable
dimensions.’

Responses
to this work have sometimes been affected by the fact that it is nicknamed the Pathétique and also the fact that
Tchaikovsky died nine days after conducting the St. Petersburg premiere in
October 1893.

But
such myths collapse against a broader consideration of the facts. Tchaikovsky,
in fact, was happy at the time. He told his publisher that ‘I have never felt
such self-satisfaction, such pride, such happiness as in the consciousness that
I really am the creator of this beautiful work’. And pateticheskaya, the nickname in Russian, does not mean ‘arousing
pity’ so much as ‘passionate’ or ‘emotional’. It was a name suggested for the
second performance after Tchaikovsky’s original nickname ‘Program Symphony’ had
failed to excite listeners adequately at the premiere. Attached to the second
performance, after Tchaikovsky’s death, it couldn’t help but look like a
harbinger of doom.

Other
rumours surround this work. Tchaikovsky is supposed to have been outed as a
homosexual just after the first performance, and ordered to kill himself by a
jury of peers from his alma mater, the Imperial School of Jurisprudence.
Recent evidence by writers such as Alexander Poznansky disputes this. Homosexuality
was no big secret in Tsarist Russia, and was not uncommon in Tchaikovsky’s
circle. Tchaikovsky’s death was most likely less scandalous: death by cholera
after drinking unboiled water.

The
‘Pathétique’ is impressive, however, shorn of all the extra-musical legends. Tchaikovsky
conjures a spectacular tapestry and one that can take hold of listeners who are
not familiar with the conventions of classical music. (Note: ‘conjures’. As
itemised above, there was plenty to suggest that Tchaikovsky was portraying grievous emotions, not
venting them.)After
a mournful opening melody played by bassoon, the exposition builds in colour
and excitement. Only then does the secondary melody appear, a full-bodied
melody tinged with sadness and regret. More than half way through, we hit the
development section: not just a technical dividing point in the structure
audible to those familiar with sonata form, but an obvious change of scene, denoting
crisis. A quote from the Orthodox requiem for the dead would have had
significance for Russian listeners. The development is finally bridled in a
passage of intense emotion which leads back to the recapitulation. If we are in
any doubt that Tchaikovsky intends to depict suffering we need only note the
baleful appoggiaturas of the trombones before the nostalgic melody returns and
the movement closes with slightly consolatory hymn-like tones.

Critics
have often derided Tchaikovsky’s symphonic credentials because his instinct for
ballet music was never far away. Here, the second movement feels like a waltz,
although it isn’t: it’s in 5 beats to the bar rather than the traditional 3.

A
scherzo-like mood introduces the third movement, a vigorous march. Tchaikovsky
the dramatist is again at work here, setting the audience up to experience with
him the final tragedy. The climax invites exultant applause, but we are then
launched all the more tellingly into the lamentoso
last movement.

One
explanation for Tchaikovsky’s extraordinary popularity is the drama, indeed pageantry,
of his music. Few composers speak so immediately to an audience. Listeners can
come away from this work with a sense of having lived through a wrenching
emotional journey. And why not? Little music prior to Mahler covers as much
emotional territory as the ‘Pathétique’.

This note first appeared in program booklets of orchestras associated with Symphony Services International (http://symphonyinternational.net/). Please contact me if you would like to reprint this note in a program booklet. If you would like to read more of my notes on this blog please see:Edward Elgar's Froissart, published 2 July 2013Aaron Copland's A Lincoln Portrait, published 3 July 2013Franz Waxman's Carmen-fantaisie, published 6 July 2013Jan Sibelius's Oceanides, published 8 July 2013Richard Wagner's Tristan and Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod, published 12 July 2013 Aaron Copland's Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson, published 18 July 2013John Williams' Escapades, published 22 July 2013 Thomas Adès's Violin Concerto Concentric Paths, published 26 July 2013 J.S. Bach's Cantata: "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott", BWV.80, published 28 July 2013 Beethoven's 5th and 6th Symphonies, published 29 July 2013 Wagner's Götterdämmerung (Immolation Scene), published 31 July 2013Liszt's Tasso, published 2 August 2013Stravinsky's Les Noces orchestrated by Steven Stucky, published 8 August 2013Liszt's Hamlet, published 15 August 2013Scriabin's Piano Concerto, published 18 August 2013Christopher Rouse's Der gerettete Alberich, published 27 August 2013Richard Strauss Der Rosenkavalier selections, published Beethoven's Eighth Symphony, published 30 August 2013'Traditional terms' - an interview with John Adams, published 5 Sep 2013Berlioz' Waverley Overture, published 9 Sep 2013 Tchaikovsky's Fatum, published 17 Sep 2013Wagner, arr. Henk de Vlieger A Ring Adventure, published 29 Sep 2013

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About Gordon Kalton Williams

He has devoted himself to understanding the link between words and music and dramatic action, and combines musical sensitivity, command of language and an instinct for the physics of drama.
Australian born, Gordon travels to and from the USA.